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Welcome to the Hidden World of Mayo Clinic and Diversity

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Mayo Clinic is known around the world for its great practice of medicine and ground breaking research. One aspect of Mayo Clinic however seems to be a hidden secret, its second shield…..Education. Yes, the Mayo Clinic’s logo contains three shields and these represent “Patient Care, Medical Education, and Research”. It seems that the education here at Mayo is overlooked by many. This is quite unfortunate due to the high quality and opportunities that one can obtain from getting an education here. It is one of the few schools that unite all three aspects to increase the knowledge and experiences of each student. This is where I come in. My name is Jessica and I am from sunny, hot South Texas. I had also never heard of Mayo Clinic’s schools until I was searching for an internship when I was in college. I came across the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) where I was able to gain research experience then learned about its graduate school and here I am a second year student and hanging on. I also joined the Initiative to Maximize Student Diversity (IMSD), which focuses on increasing the number of researchers among underrepresented ethnic minorities. This outlook gave me the idea that Mayo Clinic is not only a medical and research facility but also an educational and diverse one.

This now leads me to introduce the goal of our blog. We as graduate students, medical students, residents, post-docs, and enthusiasts want to introduce you to the world of Mayo Clinic’s education and diversity from our eyes. This of course came about with lots of hair pulling and nail biting from our ‘Mother Mayo.’ However, since we are a research and educational facility it has been shown that you would preferably hear about Mayo from someone at Mayo. It makes some sense doesn’t it? So get your minds ready and your questions rolling because we are here to open the lines of communication and answer any of your questions about diversity, education, living in Minnesota (or other sites), science updates, what it is like to be a student at Mayo, and any other topics your little heart desires J. We have intelligent, serious, intense, knowledgeable, and hilarious bloggers that are inspired to give you their honest opinions/experiences.

I will begin by asking how did you learn about Mayo Clinic? As I explained earlier, I knew they had an amazing medical practice, research, and medical school, however had no clue they had a graduate school, continuing medical education school, graduate medical school, and school of health sciences. I found it quite impressive how there was a close interplay of the schools with the clinic and research. For instance, I am currently in a cancer genetics lab and we work very closely with residents and medical doctors who share an interest in our research. Many people learn about Mayo Clinic’s schools from previous students, residents, attending national conferences, other research facilities, and unfortunately, from friends or loved ones who are admitted to the Clinic. One thing is true however, many do not know what great education Mayo Clinic has and what doors will open when you come here. For this reason, we are here to open your eyes and share the nicely hidden secrets of Mayo Clinic.